: : : : : :
: Now it's entirely possible that someone out there is using "tough ask" but it
isn't correct, nor is it particularly clever or charming as some deliberate grammatical
mistakes can be. If I heard someone using this expression I'd probably draw the
conclusion that he had very poor language skills or that it was some obnoxious
affectation.

: : : : : : Two other thoughts: you may have heard "tough task,"
a good description of something difficult to perform; or you may have heard a
professional fundraiser speaking. In the jargon of fundraisers, an "ask" is a
noun that refers to a specific need within a larger camparign, tailored to a particular
audience. Thus, in a campaign to build a large hospital, the fundraising strategists
might separate out the maternity wing as a separate "ask" because a charitable
foundation is seen as a likely donor (i.e., the founder would want her name on
that wing, and her foundation gives grants in the $7 million range) making them
a good target to that ask. Like most trade jargon, it ain't good English, but
it's a shared shorthand.

: : : : : The poster was asking: Is it correct to use
"tough" as a modifier meaning "difficult to perform"? "Tough ask" = question about
"tough."

: : : : That's plausible. The poster also asked whether some body
could answer, but I think some mind might be more likely to help.

: : : I construed
the poster's question as whether "ask" can be a noun. The Oxford English Dictionary
has "ask" as an obsolete noun only; its recorded uses end in the 13th century.
But it seems reasonable to me that "ask" could be a noun in a slang use and would
be understood. Whether it would be acceptable depends on the context: okay in
an office memo, not okay in a committee's report to the board of trustees.

:
: I have certainly heard (southern UK 2002) 'a big ask' - meaning something that
is rather a lot to request of someone. It occurred sufficiently frequently in
speech this year for me to adopt it (i think only once) when talking to students,
and I am quite a conservative language-user. By analogy, a 'tough ask' would also
be possible, but I have never heard it.

: I was working for a large multi-national
a while back and the division's numbers were a tad shy of goal when the Director
of Sales would call us personally with, in his words, "a big ask"---working extra
hours and an extra day to hit the goal.
: Also, stock prices consist of the
bid and the ask. The bid is the price you get if you own the stock and wanna sell
while the ask is the price if you wanna buy the stock. The difference is called
the spread.